That's not very Yogic of you!

I cringe whenever I hear this statement being barked at me our others - "That's not very yogic of you now is it!"  My initial knee jerk response is quelled by all the work I do on my mat, very yogic of me indeed.  Little do these folks know what a huge difference yoga has made in my life and if I was the person I used to be pre-yoga the words my response to statements like this one would be far less kind and often include the F-word! 

So what does it mean when someone says, that's not very yogic of you?  Does it imply that I must be a perfect person, incapable of making mistakes, cutting someone up, making fun of someone, or using swear words?  The yoga in me teaches me to go to the source, my heart to respond. From my heart I can contemplate further, what does this person understand about yoga in the first place.  If I think they may believe that all we do is throw on some spandex and stretch then I have to base a response on that.

If they are "yogis" themselves saying this to me it drives me more insane!  I believe it's a great opportunity to look closely at your own life/behaviour first before questioning mine. Might I quote Mr. Iyengar from his book Light on Life, "You must purge yourself before finding faults in others." Perhaps your own behaviours, actions or words are not "yogic" and that is the source of this silly statement. 

Go back to the source, inspire, elevate the community, all these concepts moving through my mind while I carefully and consciously am choosing my response.  If you do yoga you are aware the word itself  means to yoke, taken from the root yuj or to unite. It can also refer someone who practices yoga or follows a certain yoga philosophy with a high level of commitment. 

My issue when someone says this is more so about people speaking with ignorance.  They know you do yoga so that is something you can call them on if there out of alignment in some way.  I'm not saying yogis or yoginis should be going around shooting the bird at someone who cuts you off, or getting angry and punching someone out or other various precarious situations, but just because you do yoga, does not mean you're a pushover. 

My teachers have taught me to look for the good in all situations, to respond rather than react, to live with high standards and even morals but they have never ever taught me to be a pushover, to let other people treat me poorly while I keep my mouth shut in fear of responding in a non-yogic way. 

Consider this before yoga I would have been the one cutting you off in my car!  I would have given you the finger just because the wind was blowing west, my reactions where usually selfish and harsh.  After all these years of yoga no matter what, I am almost always (well, the fact that I'm a human being means I still make mistakes) responding in a yogic way regardless.